Presenting in front of cross-cultural audiences

People often fear presenting in front of audiences that have a different value and non-verbal behavior. Due to this barrier, the presenter often feels nervous to express his/her ideas, fearing that the listener may not understand. In North America, it is considered normal to get the point across quickly. However, that is not the case across the globe.  

Some key points to consider when addressing cross-cultural audiences are: 

• When a translator or non-English speaking audiences is involved, be aware of your language and express your ideas in chunks to allow the interpreter time to translate.
• Participation is a must. Break your presentation into short, discrete segments, allowing your audience to engage in the presentation.  
• It is always important to know what the audience expect and connect your presentation and your nonverbal message to their expectation.
• European believes that people who often crack jokes, smile a lot, or laugh during a business presentation are distrusting, therefore avoid it. Instead, they like people who are serious.
• Preparing visual aids for the audiences is a sign that you value your audiences. 

Click on the below link for more information on the key to effective cross-cultural communication

http://www.commlabindia.com/effective-cross-cultural-communication-presentation/

Reference:

Mary Ellen Guffey, D. L. (2011). Business Communication Process & Product. Toronto: South-Western Cengage Learning.

Strategies to avoid performance anxiety

Strategy #1

You may often experience heavy load of negative thoughts. However, those thoughts may not necessarily be a bad thing, because you can easily transfer them into positive thoughts.

Below are some examples of negative thoughts that are easily changeable to positive thoughts:

Negative thoughts:

1. "I will mess everything up." 
2. "I never do well at this kind of things; therefore it’s  going to go  horrible."
3. "They won’t be impressed with me."

Positive replacement:

1. "I will give my 100%."
2. "Just because it went wrong the first time, does not mean it will go wrong again."
3. "They are giving me an opportunity to demonstrate my knowledge of something that I have worked hard on. My hard work will impress everyone."

Strategy #2

Resolve your anxieties  

At times you may feel a great level of anxiety when having to present in front of a large crowd of people. A helpful technique would be to acknowledge what the problem is in the situation that is allowing you to feel nervous. This will help you to plan out steps that will prevent your most fearful thoughts to turn into reality. What you can do is to imagine the presentation and write down the problems which cause you to feel nervous, and then come up with something you could do in advance to help prevent this from occurring. For example, if you are worried about equipment's not working during your presentation, then a good idea is to practice using it before the presentation.

Reference:

Presentation Skills. (n.d.). Retrieved from Strategies to help you deal with performance anxiety: http://libweb.surrey.ac.uk/library/skills/Presentation%20Skills%20Leicester/page_91.htm

Please feel free to comment on the questions below in the comment box!

1. What are other negative thoughts that can be changed into positive thoughts?
2. How does your body feel when you are nervous?

Visual Aids and Multicultural Audiences

It is very important to have your audience's full attention, in order to avoid feeling nervous and frustrated. Therefore when presenting in front of a multicultural audience, it is a good idea to use visual aids to help you communicate your message across to whom English is not their first language. It is extremely important to acknowledge your audience to know whether you can present in English or whether you will need an interpreter. In most countries listeners are either too shy or polite to speak up to something that is not understood. Therefore, a good advice would be to encourage your audience to participate in your presentation. Ways of doing this is by explaining important concepts in several ways and then have the audience express their thoughts on what you have presented, to know if they have really understood what has been presented to them. Usually a good and successful PowerPoint presentation would be when slides have limited information, allowing you to elaborate on the points in your own words. However, for multicultural audience, try to have as much information packed on the slide, as they are able to understand written text more than grasp spoken English.

To avoid misunderstanding and confusing your audience, provide handouts in English as well as in the language your audience is most comfortable in. when it comes to numbers, never say them out loud. Always write them in English as well as a preferred language of your audience. Practice the language ahead of time to avoid embarrassment.

Reference:

Mary Ellen Guffey, D. L. (2011). Business Communication Process & Product. Toronto: South-Western Cengage Learning.

Having Control

Before Your Presentation

Presenting in front of a group of people will become less intimidating if you simply prepare yourself ahead of time and also run through your presentation several times. Getting involved with the audience and avoiding surprises will ease the stress, and tension. Below are tips to follow for a smooth beginning.

Prepare thoroughly: An effective presentation is to carefully research and study your topic broadly. People, who often try to make up information on the spot, tend to get nervous, and experience the worst presentation.

Rehearse repeatedly:  When rehearsing, practice the entire presentation, and not just the first half. When doing a PowerPoint presentation, print out and make use of speaker’s notes to enhance your presentation.  Use of transitional sentences while practicing will help you move into a new topic in a more efficient manner. The best way to rehearse is in front of a mirror when alone, in front of a friend, or family member.

Time yourself: Timing of your presentation is essential.  The attention of an audience is extremely important. Therefore, set the timing accordingly to audience interest. Setting kitchen timer to a specific time is helpful in letting you know that your time is up.  PowerPoint has a useful function called "Rehearse Timings" in the slide show that tracks the length of your presentation as you talk and practice.

Check the room and equipment’s: When technical equipment’s such as a computer, a projector, or sound equipment are involved, check to see if they are operational and ready to be used in advance. For an effective presentation, it is very important for you to know ahead of time where the electrical outlets are for the use of your electrical equipment's.

Let me know how your presentation went!

Reference:

Mary Ellen Guffey, D. L. (2011). Business Communication Process & Product. Toronto: South-Western Cengage Learning.

Stage Fright!

Having stage fright is a common factor for most human being.  It’s a reaction in your body, which starts to feel nervous, shaky, or even completely drained from the thought of performing in front of a large crowd, just staring at you.

Stage Fright

However, it is not a disease or illness which cannot be cured, so do not worry because there are plenty of ways and tricks to overcome stage fright.  Stage fright is natural and can be controlled. All it takes is for your mind and body to be calm, and relaxed.  Going with the flow is essential. Also, accepting the fact that things can go wrong is important because the audience don’t know any better until you show it through your facial expression that you have made a mistake. It is absolutely normal to make mistakes as everyone does. The most important thing to remember is that it is not about you! Audiences are not interested in you physically, but in what it is that you are presenting. We have a total control over our mind, how it thinks, and responds. Train it to react in a positive way.